What Friends Are For
by LeisaTheGreat
Summary: When Naruto gets sick, Sasuke must take care of him. While the two rivals are forced to stay together, they can't help but wonder about their friendship... ONESHOT!


_**That's What A Friend Does, Right?**_

"You Dobe!" Sasuke grumbles, unhappily as he trudges down the bustling street. His arm was wrapped, supportively around Naruto's waist. While the blonde's arm was slung, loosely around the raven's shoulder. Sasuke was pratically carrying him at that point. Naruto was simply too weak to walk on his own. "Didn't it ever occur to you that coming to practice while you're sick wasn't a good idea?" He snarls.

The other boy chuckles, weakly. "Yeah, the thought occured to me..." He admits. "But I decided to ignore it."

Sasuke rolls his coal black eyes. "You're such a stubborn Dobe..."

"Speak for yourself, Teme..." Naruto mutters under his breath. He would have argued more except...his head hurt _so_ bad. He couldn't wait to get home so he could sleep. The ill-stricken blonde misses the look of concern Sasuke flashes him when he hears the weakness in his friend's voice.

Sasuke sighs and readjusts Naruto who was slumping further and further toward the ground. _Maybe I should just carry him and get it over with..._He muses. _Hn, he'd never allow it. Even in his condition, he's too proud to let me help him. It was like pulling teeth to get him to rely on me this much..._So he settles on saying, "We're almost to my place, just a little longer."

He feels Naruto stiffen. "Your place?" He sounded very suspicious.

"Your apartment is all the way across town. Mine is only a few blocks away." The Uchiha points out.

Naruto frowns. "Why does that matter?" He asks. "I'll have to go home later, anyway."

"No you won't."

"Wha...?"

Sasuke sighs. "You're so stupid. You can spend the night at my house and go home when you're feeling better. Kakashi told me to take care of you, remember?"

Naruto was...shocked. Was Sasuke really offering to have him spend the night? Like they were friends? But Sasuke hated Naruto...didn't he? Always calling him 'dobe' and 'stupid' and 'loser'...and they were rivals. So...why was he being so nice all of a sudden? As Naruto contemplates whether or not the world is ending, Sasuke frowns.

"So are you alright with that?" He asks after a while.

"Uh..." Naruto lowers his gaze, trying to hide the awkward blush on his face. "Yeah...I guess."

_**-xXx-**_

The Uchiha compound was somehow even larger than it looked. And it looked enourmous. There were hundreds of houses, row upon row. As well as shops and markets and other necessary buildings.

_It's like this place is its own village within the village..._Naruto muses as he gazes around. That's when he notices that, despite the enourmity of the place, there were no people. The streets stood empty and silent. _That's right..._Naruto finds himself frowning, deeply. _Sasuke lives alone too...his entire clan was-_

"Hey, Dobe, are you alright?" Sasuke asks him, suddenly. He had noticed the distant look in his companion's eyes. As well as an uncharacteristic paleness.

"Huh?" The blonde looks up at him and nods. "I told you I'm fine, Teme."

"Then could you at least _try_ to walk on your own?" The raven was struggling to pull his house key from his pocket. And supporting Naruto while doing so was making it even harder.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry...wooah..." Naruto's knees buckle, dangerously as he pulls away. His vision giving a violent dip and nearly taking him to the ground. Luckily, Sasuke had managed to catch him before he had collapsed entirely.

"Are you okay?" He asks, quickly. More than just a hint of concern rang in the boy's voice.

"Y-yeah..." Naruto mutters, trying to pull himself back to his feet. "Just a little...dizzy is all."

Sasuke shakes his head and pulls him over to the front porch. "Sit here for a minute. I need to unlock the door." He sets him, gently, on the ground.

"Uh-huh..." Naruto leans, tiredly, against the wall of the house. His head droops as his eyes flutter closed.

Sasuke effortlessly gets the door unlocked and opened before returning to his teammate. He stops short when he notices that Naruto had fallen asleep...or passed out. Either way, Sasuke didn't want to wake him. He needed rest if he was going to recover. So, with a half-sigh-half-moan, Sasuke leans down and scoops Naruto into his arms. The blonde doesn't even stir. His head simply droops onto Sasuke's shoulder and he continues to snooze.

The slightly awkward-feeling Uchiha tries to decide where to place Naruto. Not in the living room, if he was going to spend the night he would need a decent place to sleep. Or the guest bedroom...it was a filthy, dusty mess in there. That left only one other place..._This Dobe owes me, big time...!_ He decides.

_**-xXx-**_

He didn't know why, but he was freezing cold. Naruto could literally feel the heat radiating off his own skin and yet, he felt like ice. He had a fever, that much was obvious. Even behind his closed eyelids, the light above him was too much. He lets out a pained groan and tries to roll over, in order to escape the cold and light. But to no avail. His body was simply too worn down to move.

The Uzumaki was about to drift back off to sleep when he realizes that he is no longer on Sasuke's front porch. He felt the soft matress below his aching, burning, freezing body. And something damp and cool pressed to his forehead. "Wha...?" He cracks an eye open, reaching up to touch the thing on his face. _A rag?_ He wonders, numbly. Why was there a rag on his forehead? _Oh yeah...Sasuke must have put it there...maybe to cool down my fever..._He closes his eyes again, content with going back to sleep now that he had some idea of where he was. And, at least, that he was being taken care of.

And that's when he really snaps out of it.

He was in Sasuke's house. Probably on his bed. And he was being taken care of. The world really _was_ ending. Naruto was contempating making a run for it when he heard the soft thumps of footfalls outside the door. _Kuso! _He lays back down and closes his eyes. _I hope he doesn't know I'm awake! I need time to think of a plan!_ A plan for what, he didn't know. Why was it so stressful being in Sasuke's house? They were friends, weren't they? Naruto wasn't so sure, but then again, the Uchiha had taken care of him in his time of need, hadn't he? Did that mean they were friends? Or that he was simply following orders...? All this confusion was making Naruto's head spin.

The door slides open and Sasuke walks inside. He notices the odd way Naruto's breaths were coming, a bit too short and...forced. His own breath catches then. _Maybe he's having a hard time breathing. _"Oi, Dobe." Sasuke says.

No reponse.

"Are you awake?" He asks.

Nothing.

He huffs and takes a step closer, gently shaking Naruto's shoulder. "Hey."

That's when Naruto's eyes slide open, looking foggy and unfocused. Like he had a terrible headache. "What is it?" He mumbles, sleepily.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asks again. "It looked like you were having a hard time breathing just now."

The blonde tries to act casual about it. "Nah, I'm okay." He says. "Just tired."

Sasuke nods and backs off. "Then sleep, Dobe."

Naruto frowns. "That's what I was trying to do before you came in and disturbed me."

"Okay, I'm leaving." Sasuke says and heads for the door.

A sudden, random impulse causes Naruto to sit up, slightly. "Wait a sec."

"Hn?" The other boy looks back. "What?"

"I uh..." His face reddens even more, mingling with his fever flush. "Thanks, Teme..."

Sasuke continues to walk away but pauses at the door. "No need to thank me. I'm...just following order, remember?" And with that, he slides the door shut and walks away.

_**-xXx-**_

_Just following orders?_ Naruto sighs, unhappily as he lays in the Sasuke's bed. His dizzy eyes staring at the ceiling. He was too uncomfortable to sleep now. _Sasuke is just following orders...that's the only reason he's helping me..._Truth be told, Naruto had doubted that Sasuke actually cared enough about him to help him on his own. So, of course, Sasuke was just treating this like a mission. 'Nurse Naruto back to health'. That was his job.

But, even as logical as it was...Naruto still couldn't help but feel dissapointed. Maybe even a little sad over the fact. For some reason, he had managed to convince himself that he had a friend in Sasuke. That, because they shared a similar past, they understood each other. But, obviously, he had been wrong. The Teme had said it himself, he was simply following his orders...Completing a mission.

So...why did it hurt so bad to be faced with _such_ an _obvious_ truth?

With a resigned sigh, he closes his eyes again. He knew he wouldn't sleep, but maybe if he tried really hard, he could stop thinking for a little while, at least.

_**-xXx-**_

An hour or so passed. Sasuke was sitting in the living room, his eyes flicking over the pages of a book. But he really wasn't reading. He was trying, but failing. It had taken him nearly the entire hour to read one page. His thoughts kept trailing away, causing him to reread the same paragraph again and again.

And the cause of his unfocused state? The sick blonde sleeping in the next room. Sasuke didn't understand why but, just as he'd been leaving room the last time, Naruto had looked...sad. He had only told the Dobe that he was following orders so they would feel less...awkward about the situation. But maybe he should have just accepted his thanks and not said anymore.

After rereading the same group of sentences for the third time, Sasuke huffs in frusteration and stands up. He stalks back to his bedroom to clear up this confusion. He wouldn't be able to think about anything else until he did.

As he throws open the door, his words building in his throat, he stops. And the words die. Naruto was curled up on the bed, shivering violently. He looked aweful. His skin was too pale, his face too red. And his teeth were literally chattering from all the shaking he was doing. Sasuke frowns and walks over to the bed, feeling the other boy's forehead with the back of his hand. He was burning up. His fever had gotten much worse while Sasuke hadn't been paying attention. The raven suddenly felt a pang of guilt for having neglected him for so long.

_He's gonna need some medicine to lower that temperature. _He realizes.

_**-xXx-**_

"Ohhh..." Naruto's eyes flutter open, his vision sliding in and out of focus as he regains consciousness. He didn't remember falling asleep, only that he had thought the feat would be impossible to accomplish. _Maybe being sick has a positive side too..._He muses, weakly.

He felt his body quivering, uncontrolably. His face felt hot, even when he wasn't touching it. But he still felt cold all over, anyway. His head was pounding again, right behind his eyes. And his vision blurred and doubled and danced before him, doing a pretty effective job of giving him motion sickness. He knew it that didn't stop soon, he was definately gonna vomit. Definately.

The aching blonde lets out another pained groan as he tries to roll over, vaugly recalling that doing so had helped ease nausea in the past. He gets about a third of the way on his side when his stomach gives a sharp twist and he gags, clamping a hand over his mouth. He was suddenly greatful he hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, otherwise, he would have just lost it all over Sasuke's floor.

_Sasuke..._Where was that Teme?! Wasn't he supposed to be caring for Naruto? Well he wasn't doing a very good job. _Well...I guess I wouldn't be here if weren't for him. At least he's done that much..._Naruto shakes his head and lays back down, hoping to fall asleep again.

But that's when the door opens.

"Oh, Dobe, you're awake." Sasuke says, eyeing the blonde boy, suspiciously.

"Mhm..." Naruto nods but doesn't open his eyes. He didn't want the room to start spinning again. He hears Sasuke walk next to him and something touches his hand. He cracks an eye open and looks down. In the palm of his shaking hand was a small, white tablet. "Wha's this...?" He asks, curiously.

"Medicine." Sasuke says, shortly. "Swallow that, it'll make you feel better."

Naruto makes a face of disgust and shakes his head. "I hate medicine..." He grumbles.

"Don't be a baby, just take it." Sasuke sighs, crossing his arms.

Naruto frowns and shakes his head again. "No way, Teme..." He clamps his mouth shut, indicating there was no way he'd take it.

Sasuke groans and runs a hand through his hair. Catching Naruto slightly off gaurd with the sudden display of emotion. "C'mon, you dope, you'll get better a hundred times faster if you just take the-"

"Sasuke."

"Huh?"

Naruto's face was downcast, his eyes looked tight. Like he were suddenly deep in thought. He rolls the pill between his fingers, watching as the white coating rubbed off on his skin to reveal the chalky contents inside. "Why...why're you the one taking care of me?" He asks, quietly.

Sasuke recoils away from the question. "Why not?" He counters.

The blonde scowls but doens't look up. "Why not Sakura-chan...or Kakashi-sensei...?"

Sasuke didn't know how to answer his question. Was Naruto really so unhappy with Sasuke that he'd rather someone else care for him entirely? He shrugs. "I...volunteered." He admits, sheepishly.

Naruto stiffens. "What?" Now he looks up, meeting Sasuke's onyx eyes with his own two sapphires. He looked...startled, confused...but happy.

"When you passed out on the training field, I volunteered to take care of you." He says, trying to sound non-chalant about it.

"Why...?" Naruto asks.

The raven shrugs. "That's what friends do, right?"

Naruto's heart literally slams into his throat when those words leave Sasuke's mouth. The pain of it brings tears to his eyes. Had Sasuke just admited they were friends? A short, nervous laugh breaks the blonde's silence. His shoulders shake with silent laughter.

Sasuke's own face reddens, slightly. "W-what are you laughing at, Dobe?!"

Naruto's laughter dies down, leaving him smiling at the bed sheets. "Nothing, Teme..." He says before lifting the pill to his mouth and swallowing it. He coughs, uncomfortably, as it slides down his dry throat.

"I'll get you some water." Sasuke tells him.

"Th-thanks." Naruto chokes out, still grinning stupidly at the floor. He would get better soon and he couldn't wait. He couldn't wait to get back to the training field. He couldn't wait to see how his 'friendship' with Sasuke would affect their rivalry. If at all. And most of all, he couldn't wait to have a clear mind again so he could really, really comprehend what had just taken place.

Sasuke was his friend.

For the first time in his _life_, someone admitted caring about him...It felt like he was glowing. Like, if he weren't so weighed down by the blankets, he might float away. It was a gorgeous feeling, knowing as a fact, that someone cared what happened to him. Somehow, he already couldn't remember what it was like not having that warmth within his soul.

_**-xXx- **_

As the sweet memory begins to wrap up, Naruto opens his eyes to gaze at the dark-blue midnight sky. Three years. Three years, today. Naruto had gotten his first friend. Turning around toward the rest of his bedroom, he finds all his equiptment laid out on his bed.

The mission was tomorrow. And he was determined not to fail. With another grin, he says, "I'll see you soon, Sasuke...I'll definately save you from Orochimaru. No doubt about it. Because..."

"That's what a friend does, right?"


End file.
